


Black Swan

by Tessacat



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Badass Reader, F/M, Falling In Love, Fighting, Fluff, Hydra can kiss my ass, It just depends, Mutant, Romance, Wings, also you are gorgeous, bucky adores you, possibly eventual smut, some violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-19
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-14 23:59:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19283869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tessacat/pseuds/Tessacat
Summary: Reader has been living on the run from hydra for several years. But things change when she sees a familiar face while out shopping for fruit. (Read first chapter for full summary.





	1. Summary

Y/n) was born and raised in the Red Room, bred to be the next Black Widow. But when HYDRA started recruiting girls from the Red Room for an experiment, the planed changed. At 15 years old she received a blood test along with the rest of the girls, but only her and five others came back with a positive indicator for a special gene that meant she would be more likely to mutate when injected with a new serum HYDRA had been working on. A serum that would activate dormant mutant genes. (Y/n) was the only girl to survive the experiments, becoming her own breed of super solider, one with bulletproof wings. That’s where she earned the name Black Swan. In the beginning, she was there obedient little assassin, at least until they sent her on a mission to kill kids. When she refused, they brainwashed her, making her just like the Winter Solider. She and the Solider made a deadly team, taking out anyone and everyone HYDRA commanded them to. Until one day the Black Swan was assigned to kill children again. When she saw the look of horror on the kids faces it triggered a memory, a memory of the first time HYDRA asked her to hurt kids. After she remembers what the did to her she fled. Now for several years she has been living in hiding. But things change when she sees a familiar face while out shopping for fruit.


	2. The fruit market

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little shorter than the others will be. I just got to excited and decided to go ahead and post.

It was a chilly autum day in the northern UK. The cool wind nipping at your skin, causing you to hold your caramel colored cardigan closer to your body. You walk through the maze of a market, making your way towards the fresh fruit, going straight for the plums. As You reach for the purple colored fruit your hand brushes against a cold, gloved leather hand. 

“Sorry.” You say, raising your eyes to look at the stranger, but when your eyes meet his, you both freeze.

“Soldat.” The word slips past your lips on there own accord. Not a second later, the man you recognize as the Winter Solider darts off, ducking away into an alley. Forgetting about the fruit You quickly follow him. He goes to run but luckily for you you’re faster, coming up right behind him and catching his arm. He turns around quickly gearing up as if he’s about to fight but stops short as you let go, taking a few steps back.

“It’s me.” You tell him. “Don’t you remember?”

He looks at you suspiciously. “They sent you after me?”

You shake your head harshly. “No-no I left them a long time ago.”

He’s able to look in your eyes and know that you’re telling the truth. Probably due to the fact that you don’t look cold and dead inside. “How did you get out?” He asks, posture relaxing.

“How did you?” You counter.

“It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got nothing but time.” You smile softly at your old partner.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a moment of pondering the Solider-who you learned name is James-decided he trusted you enough to take you back to his apartment (which was coincidentally next to yours) and told you his story.

“Damn... guess you’re pretty old then.” You joke, unfortunately not gaining a laugh from the stoic man.

“What about you?” He asks.

You sigh, picking at your nails as You speak. “They had asked me to kill these two kids, to this day I’m still not sure why, but when I saw the look of horror on their faces, I remembered. I remembered the first time they asked to to hurt a child and what they had done after I refused... I’ve been on the run ever since.” 

Soldat opens his mouth to speak but pauses when you both hear a noise. A noise only loud enough for the two of you to hear. The very soft sound of highly trained footsteps.

“You expecting company?” You ask even though you’re pretty sure you know the answer.

“Nope.” He says softly as both of you stand up. You shrug off your cardigan as he protectively moves in front of you. A strange habit he had, even back when you were partners.

Just as the door is kicked in you let out your wings, curling them around both of you to protect yourselves from the sudden hail of bullets.

After a moment the two unwelcome guests ran out of bullets, having to stop to reload. You pull your wings back into place before you both lunge forward, yourself going for the man on the left. You run, using your momentum to jump on top on the man, swinging your legs around his body until his neck is stuck between your thighs and begin to choke him. The man struggles to grasp at your legs before slamming you both on your backs. Unfortunately for him you haven’t lost your grip and begin slamming your elbows into his face repeatedly until you hear a sickening crunch. When the man stops moving you release him and go to grab his gun, shooting him once between the eyes for good measure. 

When You look to your left you see James has just finished taking care of his guy as well.

“Grab any important items and meet me on the roof.” You tell him. “If it’s HYDRA, they’ll be sending more.”

James nods and you part ways. 

You quickly run into your apartment, grabbing a back pack and filling it with clothes and weapons, making sure to remember your keys before strapping it on. You come out of the apartment only to find three guys fighting James. You immediately grab a knife from the bag and stab it into the back of the man on top of James. The man howles in pain and you rip him from James back, throwing him on the ground only to jump on top him and slit his throat. The next guy come at you with his own knife, but before he is even close enough to reach you throw your knife at him, landing it right between his eyes. The man falls to the ground in a heap, the sound of him hitting the ground being drowned out by the scream of the man that that James just threw over the stair rail.

“You good?” You ask.

“Yeah. You?”

“I’m peachy.” You smirk before turning around and bownding up the stairs and towards the roof, Bucky hot on your tail.

A cold gust of wind hits you when you open to door to the roof. You urge James to follow you to the edge as You once again unleash your large wings.

“The next wave of HYDRA soldiers will be hear any minute. I think the best way out is by air... do you trust me?”

“I-I think so.” He answers.

You nod. “Come to the edge.”

James comes to the edge of the roof beside you. You walk behind him and wrap your arms around him.

“Hold on tight.” You say as you lift both you and James off the ground, launching you from the roof and into the starry night sky.

“Where are we going?” James asks.

“The coast. I have a boat.”

“You have a boat?”

“Yes-well, technically it’s a yacht.”

“Where did you get a yacht?”

“An old friend.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Might turn out as a one-shot... depends on what you guys want in the comments. Also, I may or may not add smut later on if I continue this work. I can’t write smut to save my life so if anyone out there likes writing smut and would like to team up with me, please comment below lol


	3. Deep Waters

The windy coastal air blew harshly in your face, blowing a few pieces of hair from your braid. It didn’t take to long to arrive at the coast due to your high speed flying, so the two of you made it there just as the sun finished setting.

You land gracefully, gently placing James down before yourself.

You retract your wings before giving your back a quick stretch. You always made sure to stretch after flying.

The two of you remain silent as he follows you over to the small yacht floating on the edge of the dark water.

You kept the yacht at a rocky secluded shore. A place you knew would be safe from tourists. You didn’t want to keep it at an actual dock incase hydra ever found you. 

Once you were both aboard the boat you pulled out your keys, unlocking the door to the inside and gesture for James to go in. James has to sit on the floor of boat and crouch over just to fit his large frame inside.

The interior of the yacht is small and cozy. To the immediate right is the kitchen area, just a few white and brown wood counter tops with a stove, sink, and mini-fridge. To the left is a built in wooden booth with a table. The booth covered with white cushions and a couple of orange and white polka dot throw pillows. At the front of the boat is a small nook covered by a soft white mattress, the skylight above it shining the only light in the boat. Right next to the kitchen, behind the stairs is a small bathroom, equipped with a toilet and shower. Just to the right of that is the control panel. You take the keys and turn them in the ignition, turning on the soft glowing overhead lights.

“Go ahead and get comfortable.” You tell him. “I’m going to set sail.”

“You sure? I can help if you need anything.” Bucky responds.

“You know who to sail a boat?” You ask.

He shakes his head.

“Then the best thing you can do to help is get rest.” I’ll guide us through the night. In the morning I’ll show you how to stay on course so I can take a nap.”

He nods before asking.”Where are we going?”

“Iceland.” You inform him.

“But Iceland is a hotspot of Hydra bases.” 

“Not anymore.” I sigh. James looks like he wants to ask more but can tell I don’t feel like explaining at the moment so he lets it go.

“Ok.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your hair constantly whips you in the face as the growing wind beats you with an icy pore. Each raindrop feels like tiny shards of ice on you red tinted cheeks. You gave up on a ponytail long ago, having blown out almost instantly every time you redid it.

The weather took a turn for the worst about halfway through the night. The storm is currently at its peak, causing the waters to be rough and choppy. You had to take down the sail to keep it from ripping and are now trying to control the boat with the steering wheel.

Unfortunately for you the bad weather meant you would constantly need to keep the small ship on track to your destination.

You you were shivering constantly, your white long sleeved shirt was soaked through long ago, your red bra showing through. Not that you noticed, you where very much preoccupied with keeping the yacht upright. The task becoming harder and harder with each wave.

Somehow you are able to make it through the night. It’s currently sunrise and the constantly drizzling rain keeps you hair wet. After putting the sail back in place you decid the water is calm enough that you can go inside for a break.

The soft sound of snoring gets louder as you make you way down the creaky stairs. You find James to be fast asleep in.. the booth?

Why is he sleeping in the both when there is a perfectly good bed?

“James.” You say softly, gently poking his metal shoulder as not to startle him.

His snoring pauses momentarily before picking back up.

You poke him harder, saying his name louder. “James.”

James (despite your best efforts) wakes with a start, flinching and hitting his knee on the booth table.

“Shit!” He grumbles after hitting his knee, his hand coming down to rub out the beaten area.

“You good?” You ask, holding back a chuckle.

“ ‘M fine.” His rough voice answers as he rubs the sleep away from his eyes. “What time is it?”

You turn to look at the clock on the wall. “About 6:30. Sorry about waking you. I thought it be a good time to give you a quick lesson in sailing while the water is still calm.

“6:30? That can’t be right...” James takes a look at the clock. “Well I’ll be damned.” He says under his breath.

“Something wrong?” You frown.

He shakes his head. “Nothin it’s just... I haven’t slept though the night since... well since Hydra.” He admits quietly.

He seems to be uncomfortable with the fact he just shared something relatively private with you. Then again, most everything about him could be considered private considering no one knows anything about him. Except you. Having both been at the mercy of Hydra meant you had a better understanding of each other.

“Sure picked a hell of a night to sleep. There was a crazy bad storm last night.” You inform him with a light smile.

James realize for the first time that your soaking wet, and for a moment his eyes linger on your soaked shirt. He can’t help it, the last time he saw anything like that was the 40’s, though he doesn’t remember ever seeing a pair of breasts as perfect as yours.

James’s eyes snap up to yours and he clears his throat. “Your ah, your bra...” he trails off, not knowing the right words to say.

You look down and realize what he talking about causing a warm blush to rise to your cheeks.

“Sorry... I’ll ah- I’ll go put on some different clothes.” You grab you bag from the booth and turn to go to the bathroom.

“Are you alright? Your lips are blue.”

“I’m fine; a little cold. Nothing a warm shower won’t fix.” You smile at him, turning and escaping into the bathroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You spent your whole shower thinking about him. You couldn’t help it. The way he looked at you made you feel strange, like there was a small fire that sparked in you whenever you looked into his eyes.

After taking a fast shower and changing into a pair of warm sweats and a thermal shirt you went to give Bucky a quick lesson in sailing. After that you returned inside the ship and took a nap in the bed.

You were awoken to the lovely smell of fresh coffee. You stretch out your libs before getting up from the bed and walking into the kitchen (which was only a step away from the bed).

“I see you found the coffee.” You muse, Taking in a deep whiff of the heavenly smelling liquid.

James stops what he was doing. “Hope you don’t mind. I got hungry and coffee is the most appetizing thing you have.”

You let out a small laugh. He’s not wrong. You only kept things that took awhile to expire due to the fact that you didn’t sail that much anymore. Your cupboards only contained granola bars, a jar of peanut butter, a jumbo carton of gold fish and some medicor tasting protein bars. And the only two items In your fridge is a jar of pickles and a butt load of jello.

“Not a fan of jello?” You ask as You pore yourself a cup of coffee.

“Jello?” James questions.

You sit down across from him in the booth as you take a swig of the deliciously burning liquid. “You know, the green jiggly stuff.”

“That’s what that weird stuff in your fridge is called?”

“Yep.” You chuckle. “And it’s amazing. You should try it.”

He laughs. “Yeah, that’ll never happen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s three hours later and you and Bucky managed to eat nearly all the Jello. You could have eaten it all but you both knew you would need to ration food over the next few day of your trip until you made it to land.

You two were currently playing your third game of chess. Bucky won the first round and you won the second, and you were determined to beat him best two out of three.

You had both been quite most of the game until James spoke.

 

“I’m sorry by the way.”

“For what?” You ask, confused.

“For what happened back at the apartment. If it hadn’t been for me you wouldn’t be in this mess.” He sighs. “I’ll be out of your hair once we reach land.”

You shake your head. “James that wasn’t-“

“My fault?” He finishes for you. “Of course it is. It always is.” He looks down in guilt, as if remember a past transgression. 

“What do you mean?”

“It’s not the first time someone’s life is ruined because of me. About a year after I escaped I was living homeless in Brazil. Then this sweet old lady found me and took me in. I was like a lost dog and she helped me get back on my feet. I stayed with her until Hydra found me.” He pauses, eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I saw them kill her.... she- she didn’t deserve to die... it should have been me.”

There’s a long pause before you slowly reach your hand across the table to take his. He flinches when you first touch him but he doesn’t pull away.

“I’m sorry. But you don’t have to worry about me. I’m like you, remember? We were partners.”

Another pause.

“Please don’t leave. I’ve been so lonely... it’s nice to have someone to talk to... it’s been a long time since I had that.”

When James sees the desperation in your eyes he knows he can’t say no. For some reason, all he want in that moment is the hear you laugh again.

“It’s Bucky.”

“I’m sorry?”

“My name. My friends used to call me Bucky. If I stay with you, I guess that kinda makes us friends. So I thought you should know.”

You smile. “Then Bucky it is.”

About 30 minutes and another cup of coffee later, Bucky speaks again.

 

“What did you mean when you said there’s no more Hydra bases in Iceland?” 

You swallow, you knew you’d have to explain at some point, you just didn’t expect it to be so soon. You weren’t ashamed, but you didn’t particularly like talking about death.

“Well, too be frank, I took them all out.”

Bucky looks confused.

“I killed them.”

He nods. “Why.”

It was kinda a dumb question, but at the same time it was valid. Bucky no doubt wanted to kill them too, but he hadn’t. So why did you?

You shrug. “Partially for revenge. But mainly I wanted to stop them from hurting more people the way they hurt me... they way they hurt us. I thought taking down the Iceland bases would be a good start.”

“You did the right thing.”

“I know I did... I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really liked this chapter as I was writing it but now... idk. Let me know what you think in the comments. Constructive criticism is always welcome.


	4. Having Fun

You and Bucky were starving by the end of your trip. The small amount of food not giving you nearly enough for two super soldiers.

After changing into the warmest clothes you had and docking the ship the two of you began your 7 mile trek through the snow to your destination.

“The cabin is just over that hill.” You inform him, pointing towards the large snow covered hill in front of you.

“Who’s cabin is it any way?” Bucky asks.

“An old friend.”

“The same old friend that gave you the yacht?”

“Yep.” You smile sadly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The cabin was just as you remembered. On the right was I little living area with a brown leather couch and old rocking chair for furniture. The floor decorated with a faux bearskin rug that lay infront of and old cobblestone fire place. On the left is the kitchen, all aged appliances and dusty wooden countertops. A small table with two chair sits in between the two sides of the house.

In the back of the cabin was a simple bathroom and a bedroom. The first thing you do after entering the cabin was walk back to the bedroom and switch on the generator that sit collecting dust in the closet.

You return to the main room to find Bucky viewing some old photos that line the room.

“They sure seemed to like you.” Bucky observers after seeing you in several of the pictures lining the walls.

You smile sadly as you take a look at one of the photos. One of you and Janice from the day she first taught you how to sail.

“The woman who used to own the cabin, Janice, took me in after I found my way to her door step half frozen to death and covered in blood... she saved me.”

“Who the man?” Bucky points to a wedding picture of Janice and her husband fishing.

“He was her husband. Unfortunately I never met him, he died several years before I found myself here. The boat was his actually. Janice told me that he used to take her sailing all the time.”

“What made her take you in?”

You shrug. “I guess for the same reason the woman I Brazil helped you. She was just a good person.”

“What happened to her?” Bucky turns to you.

You look down to your feet. “Hydra found us... well, it was just one member, he was working alone. The irony of it was I had a chance to kill him when I took out the bases...” I pause, taking a deep breath to calm my emotions. “I was about to kill him when he pulled out this crumpled photo of his family. I know I shouldn’t have cared, I know that other Hydra members I killed have family’s but... seeing them, it made me weak. I spared him.” An angery tear slips from my eyes as I look up at Bucky. “It took him time but eventually he found me. I walked in one day to find Janice dead on the floor. I didn’t hesitate to kill him after that.”

There’s a long pause before I speak again. “Janice was the closest thing I ever had to family and he took it from me. But at the end of the day... it was still my fault.”

Bucky doesn’t say anything at first. He just walks towards you slowly, as if unsure of what he’s doing, and pulls you into a gentle hug.

He doesn’t tell you it’s not your fault, he doesn’t say that it’s going to be ok, because he knows that those words don’t change anything. He knows how you feel. He’s the only person that could possibly understand what you’re feeling. So he says what he knows you need to hear.

“I’m sorry.”

You sniffle, pulling away. “Thank you.” You sigh.

Bucky and you didn’t talk much after that, you changing into a fresh pair of clothes while Bucky surveys the cabin. No doubt looking for all possible entry’s and exits. I few minutes later Bucky goes to the kitchen to look for food, only to find none.

“Where’s the closest store?” He asks you.

“Bout seven miles east of here. But it will be closed by the time you get there. There’s a good lake for ice fishing though about three miles north, and all the fishing stuff we need is in the shake round back.” You push yourself off the couch and walk towards the door.

“I’ll take you-“

“No.” Bucky cuts you off, gently leading you back towards the couch.

You frown. “Why not?”

“Cause your so cold that your lips are blue.” He chuckles.

You bring a finger to your lips to find that they are, indeed, cold.

“I can’t expect you to do all the work.” I reason with him.

Bucky shakes his head. “You stay here, maybe start a fire. I’ll go catch us some fish.”

“If you insist.” You shrug, grabbing your keys and tossing them to Bucky. “The gold key will let you into the shed”

Bucky nods before walking out the door. “Thanks.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bucky ended bring back 5 large fish which you had ended up cooking for the two of you. You had insisted that the least you could do was cook considering he went to the trouble of catching the fish. After dinner you two had come to the agreement that you would take turns in the bed. Tonight was your night to sleep in the bed so you woke up feel refreshed. Bucky was still asleep when you got up so you to the opportunity to hike over to the only grocery store for miles and brought back some food. You quietly made some bacon and eggs and put on a pot of coffee for breakfast before deciding to go outside and build a snowman. You weren’t sure why you where so keen on the idea of making a snowman, perhaps it was the nostalgia you were feeling by being in a place where you used to do such whimsical and pointless things as building a snowman. It served no practical use, but damn it, you wanted to have fun.

Your fingers where numb from the cold despite your gloves by the time you where done placing the last ball of snow on top of your snowman. You looked around and found two small rocks to use as eyes, and since you didn’t have any carrots you went through your amo and decided on using a large bullet for the nose.

Just as you were putting the finishing touches on your creation, the sound of someone clearing there throat pulled your attention.

“Oh, hey Bucky!” You smile a greeting.

“Mornin.” Bucky greets, voice still rough with sleep. “Thank for marking breakfast.”

You shrug. “It was no problem. I was hungry anyway.”

“Whatcha making?” He gestures towards the snowman with a jerk of his head.

“Just a snowman.” You answer.

“Why?” He questions.

You give him a funny look. “For fun. Why else would I make one?”

Bucky just shrugs.

“Don’t you ever do anything for fun?” You quirk your head at him.

“Not really.” He answers honestly.

“Well... maybe you should.” What Bucky doesn’t notice is you making a tight ball of snow behind your back. Before he can react, a soft ball of snow comes flying at him, hitting him square in the chest.

“Why’d you do that?” He asks, confused.

“Cause I’m trying to start a snowball fight. Duh!” You answer before throwing another ball of snow at him.

“Stop.” He warns you, but you don’t give up. Making another attempt to get him to join you throw one last ball, the snow hitting him right in the face.

Bucky glares at you as he wipes the snow from his face.

“What are ya gonna do about it?” You taunt him.

“Oh now your asking for it.” He say with a sly grin.

Moments later the two of you are laughing and pelting snowballs at each other. The fight lasts a solid ten minutes before one lone snowball ends it all. 

You should have seen it coming. But you were too carried away in having fun to notice the snowball coming 20mph at your face. As soon as it hits you let out an involuntary shout.

“Ow!” You cry as you instinctively cover your now throbbing cheek with your hand. Bucky is by your side in an instant. “I’m so sorry! Are you ok?”

“Im fine.” You say, brushing it off.

Bucky can tell your lying, so gently grabbing your face he removes your hand from the injured spot. His carful fingers softly brushing over the now forming bruise. “I’m really sorry.” He say sadly, as if he’s afraid you may be upset with him.

“It’s ok, see?” Just as the words leave your mouth, the newly formed bruise begins to heal before his eyes. “I heal fast.” You inform him with a smile, placing your hands over his and running your thumb along the back of them in a soothing motion. You can feel both your heart beating faster and know that you may do something you might regret if you don’t take his hands off your face. Taking his rough hands you pull them down to your sides before letting go.

“Come on Buck, lets go inside.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments make me upload faster ;)


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